Winter Garden Activities - Part 2 (Potatoes)

This year I decided to grow my own potatoes. Not nearly as many as we eat, but at least some. Part of my problem is that I don't have enough garden space to grow everything I would like to try. Crop rotation helps. So I bought "seed" potatoes at OSH last fall. Seed potatoes are not literally seeds. You take a potato and cut them up so there are at least 2 "eyes" to each chunk.

Knife point points to budding "eye".

 I let the chunks dry for about a day just so they wouldn't rot in the soil. Then because it was raining so much and I couldn't plant in the garden, I filled some cardboard soda flats about 1/2 full of potting mix. Then I just laid the chunks on top. I didn't leave much space in between because I plan on putting them in the ground once sprouts come up and the plants start leafing out. Then I covered them with about 1 1/2 inches of potting soil. Then I watered them and set them under my grow light. Once they started to sprout, I moved them to my makeshift greenhouse. I planted Russet Potatoes, Red Potatoes and Yukon Gold potatoes. The Russets are great for baking or frying; the Reds are good for potato salad or boiled potatoes as they're a little firmer textured; and the Golds are great for mashing - they look and taste like they have butter even without it.

I plan to put my starts in the ground sometime this week. The conventional way to plant potatoes is to dig a trench and backfill with some good compost mixed with aged manure. Lay your potato "seeds" with the eyes up and cover with a few inches of soil, compost or straw. If you cover with straw, fertilize well as the straw will use some of the available nitrogen in the soil to decompose. As the potatoes grow taller, add more straw around the plants. Just keep mounding straw around the plants and adding fertilizer until the plant flowers then stop. After the potatoes flower, they will eventually start to turn yellow and die. That's okay, they're building potatoes. Once the plant dies, give it a few weeks and then carefully dig up your crop. These are the basics since there are lots of methods to grow potatoes. You can use/create all kinds of containers. Here are just a few.

Potatoes in 5-gallon buckets. Be
sure to drill drainage hole in the bottom.

Potatoes growing in tires.



Potatoes in tires - start with layer one and keep building up.





If you don't have tires, build a box.





Commercial container - build your own. This would
be a great science project for your kids.





And here are some websites for additional instructions:

Growing Potatoes in a Barrel

Growing Potatoes in a Box

100 Pounds of Potatoes for a Buck

So try growing your own potatoes - they taste better than store bought. And don't forget to save a few for your next crop.

Childhood Memories in Woodworth, Wisconsin

I was about 4 years old when we moved to Woodworth, Wisconsin to live at the New Tribes Mission headquarters. You see my parents had met while training to be missionaries, but my dad ended up having heart problems. So after some time in California where Dad had open heart surgery - a new thing at that time; and the birth of my brother Jimmy, we moved back to Wisconsin.

First we lived in a tiny apartment in Milwaukee. My brother Johnny was born there. I remember climbing stairs to get home and the smell of home baked cinnamon rolls. It's true that memory is linked to smell. I still love the smell of cinnamon to this day. I also remember my dad pulling us down a sidewalk in a wagon and pointing up to a window in a tall building and saying my mom was up there with my baby brother, Johnny. Families couldn't visit hospital rooms back then.

So on to Woodworth. This was the location of the printing operation. I knew they produced a magazine titled The Brown Gold. It had articles about missionaries who were sponsored through New Tribes Mission. I guess since Dad couldn't go overseas, then working on printing presses was the next best thing.

To the left, my dad is standing at the cutter which would cut all the pages in a book to be even. These were some very powerful and dangerous machines. They were all housed together in a big area. Typical of all children, we took what Dad did for granted. It was just work as far as we were concerned. In the picture to the right, Dad is looking at photos on a light table. I think he knew they were taking his picture and just can't help smiling. He was a happy, easy-going kind of guy. He used to sit back at the table after dinner and tell stories when we had company. He must have told good stories because people would always laugh.

Dad? overseeing the printing press.



Here my mom is also displaying one of the Bibles they had printed in a translated language.



Driveway with a circle at the end. I remember it as being wider.

Woodworth was huge to me. It was like a wonderland to kids. We pulled up in our Rambler station wagon where I was asleep in the back. I sat up to this sight of our new home. At first we lived in an interior apartment. We didn't have a television, but I remember going upstairs to another family's home to watch Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland. We would often go to other families homes for dinner or invite them over. Later we moved to a bigger apartment in the back of the building.

There were other kids to play with since there were more than 5 or 6 families living there. I grew up as a tomboy. The girls were all a few years older or younger than me. So I always wanted to play with the boys, but they didn't always want me around. We would play cowboys and Indians. The boys were the cowboys 'cause they wanted to win. So I had to be an Indian. I was the meanest Indians you ever saw. I would capture one of the boys and tie him to a tree. If he complained that the rope was too tight, I would tie it tighter!

Front view of New Tribes Mission in the autumn.

We had playground equipment. There was a swing set and teeter-totter. I think there may have been a merry-go-round too.  Mom told me that my dad was instrumental in getting the equipment for all the children. There were two trees close enough that we could run a rope between and drape with blankets to create a tent.

One night all of us kids were wanting to sleep out overnight. The older girls were in charge. One was Beth Ann Larson. She was a pretty blond girl. Anyway, they couldn't get us kids to settle down to sleep so they started telling us that if we weren't quiet the Hell's Angels were going to kidnap us. They said we would know those evil guys were coming if we heard bells. I swear I heard bells and so did everyone else. The next thing I knew, we were all inside in a large hall trying to bed down on the floor. The next day I found out a huge storm had blown up and that twisters had passed right over the property. Some the trees were even twisted apart. I must have dosed off between the bells and the storm.

We didn't have to worry about kidnappers really. We were free to wander as long as we came in by dinner. There were oak woods to the right and left of the photo above. We had red squirrels living there. One guy shot some once and my mom fried them up. They tasted like chicken; really. Behind the building was swampy land with a cow pasture beyond. We would pack a sack lunch and head out for a day of adventure. I'd pick wild onions and eat them. My mom always knew I had eaten them, but I couldn't figure out how. There were also crab apples which gave you a stomach ache if you ate too many. There were wild grapes and a ditch where we could catch crayfish. The crayfish would burrow into the clay banks. Or we would just play with the clay itself trying to make pottery and such.

The building which used to be a pill factory was set pretty far in from the main road. When you first turned in there were large grassy areas on each side of the drive. They would fill with water and then freeze solid in the winter. We would ice skate on the one that remained in shade, but not on the side that got sunny since it would melt early or be slushy. We didn't want to fall through the ice. I vaguely remember a house, but the drive curved around behind it where the community garden was situated on the left. Each family had a certain number of rows each. It was on a slight slope and our section was near the bottom. Then there was a pond which had snapping turtles in it. A culvert ran under the road for the stream that fed the pond. I stepped on the ice covering this stream one winter and fell through. Luckily it wasn't deep and I got out. It was still a very chilling experience. In the spring we could find wild strawberries growing around this stream.

As you continued down the drive it finally came to our home. I remember riding my brother Jim's new-fangled bicycle down this drive and taking a nasty fall. I started third grade with a big scab down my nose. I was so embarrassed. Later when we lived in California again, I fell off that same bike when a tire got caught in the groove of the railroad tracks. I had my own ugly green bike too. Once my foot got caught in the spokes leaving a scar on my ankle. Another time the chain caught my pants and yanked me off. I'm beginning to realize that I don't have much luck with bikes.

At night we would play Freeze, hide-and-seek and other fun games. I don't remember owning a lot of toys, but we used our imaginations. And everyone shared the toys they did have. There was a sand pile where we could play trucks or with plastic toy soldiers. We had freedom that kids don't have these days because there is so much fear of what might happen to them and they don't have the room to roam.

So these pictures that my Aunt and Uncle found in the archives brought back some memories that were really cool. As a disclaimer though, these are my memories from the age of 4 to about 8 so some of the details may not be all that accurate.

Winter Gardening Activities - Part 1

Well I haven't posted in a while,  but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy.

I live where we have fairly mild winters; no snow, just fog and rain. The San Joaquin Valley would be a desert if it wasn't for irrigation. So this means, we can grow cool season crops through the winter.

This year I had beets, lettuce, carrots, onions, leeks and snow peas planted. I had also planted cabbage and other cole crops, but they either didn't come up or the chickens ate them. Unfortunately, I also have a little dog, Pete, whose a little enthusiastic about hunting gophers. I had one show up after 2 years without any sign of them. Pete dug under the garden fence and then proceeded to trench along the gopher trails digging up my carrots, onions, leeks and some lettuce in the process. He did a whole lot more damage than that pesky gopher. I only salvaged a few carrots, green onions, and leeks. To keep Pete out of the garden, I ended up stacking rocks over his hole and pouring bleach over the rocks. I was hoping the smell of chlorine would bother his nose and discourage him. It seems to have worked since he hasn't tried again. (Previously he dug or moved the rocks even though they were fairly heavy.)

What I do have now are some very nice beets,a variety of lettuce and a few snow peas.

This year I decided to start my own plant, i.e. tomatoes, more cole crops, even peas. If you price plants at the local Lowes or Walmart, they cost at least $3.49 for a 4 inch pot; that can add up quickly. Often times these plants are already stressed because the people working in those garden departments often don't have a clue about gardening and either over-water or under-water the plants. You are limited to the varieties they carry. Plus you don't know where the seed was grown and under what conditions. Also, I decided I wanted to start growing non-genetically enhanced or changed seed that is reproducable unlike so many hybrids on the market these days. If you save seed, you won't have to buy it again in the future. You can stock up on what you like. (Save your seed in an airtight container in the refrigerator - I use large plastic jars like they use for peanut butter or trail mix.)

I bought a heat pad, a single planting unit that was the size of the heat pad and a grow light (I had a standard work shop fluorescent fixture, just needed the bulb) . You can buy these as kits and lights from various websites or some hardware stores. I found mine at Orchard Supply. The planting unit had sections in which I could plant up to 72 plants. I used a seed starter mixture which has fine peat moss and perlite, but no real "dirt". You want to avoid something called "damping off disease" which is carried in "dirt". You can try using potting soil if it's all you have, but as a precaution, heat to soil up on the oven to kill any disease germs or unwanted fungus.

I planted 4 kinds of tomatoes, cabbage, bok choy and comfrey. I only bought the one unit, because I use other items for potting plants or starting seed. For example: yogurt containers, baby powder bottles, plastic vitamin bottles, water bottles, etc. You get the idea. Just use a serrated knife to cut the container to the size you want.

I bought my seeds from Sustainable Seed Co. I started my seeds on February 5th and by March 5th they were ready to be transplanted into larger containers. One thing I learned, be sure your grow light is low enough or the seedlings will be "leggy" as they reach for the light. This is not a big problem with tomatoes because its an opportunity to create a bigger root system. You see whatever portion of the tomato stem is under dirt will produce roots. You can even remove the bottom leaves and bury that portion underground to form more roots. The advantage of more roots is more nutrients drawn into the plant thereby creating a stronger plant with more tomatoes. If you live where it gets really warm or your soil is really sandy, plant with the roots deep in the soil. If you live where its cooler or your soil has a high clay content, dig a trench and lay your plant in sideways so the rootball is horizontal (parallel to the surface) when you bury it. Don't try to bend the top of the plant upward - you'll break it. Just let the sun coax it upward. So when I transplanted my seedlings, I planted them in water bottles with the tops cut off. Then to create a mini-greenhouse effect, I used some masking tape and taped the bottle tops back on. As soon as the plant starts crowding the bottle tops, remove the bottle top so it won't inhibit the growth. Mine came off within a few weeks. Just keep transplanting into taller and taller containers such as 2-liter soda bottles until you're ready to plant in the ground.

Once the weather warmed up (mid-40s at night), I moved some of my plants outdoors. Not directly into the garden because the soil is still cool. I created a sort of greenhouse. My husband built me supports for my tomatoes a couple years ago because those tomato cages they sell in stores just don't cut it if your plants get 5-6 feet tall.

Supports built from galvanized 1/2 inch pipe.

These supports make handy frames for plastic covers  (painting drop clothes) to keep frost off your plants. Also, a plant new to the direct sun will burn. Then there's the plus of keeping moisture in. So I set one of these supports in direct sun, placed a 2x6 foot piece of plywood on some overturned large pots. (An old door and 5 gallon buckets would also work - use whatever you've got handy.)

I'll write more about my potatoe starts, but first I have a family gathering to attend.